Popeyes Cuts Hours, Seeks More Staff To Deal With Customer Demand
Halifax-For more than two weeks, people have been waiting, sometimes for hours, to get a taste of the new Popeyes chicken in Bedford. The hype leading up to the March 30 opening was understandable, since it was the first location of the popular American chicken franchise to open in Atlantic Canada.
But nothing could have prepared customers or staff for the lineups that roped the streets during Popeyes’ opening days. Popeyes Bedford general manager Wilmer Morales said the branch sold $28,000 (gross) worth of product on the restaurant’s opening day.
“It was tough because we didn’t expect anything like that. We knew we were going to be busy but the queue we were facing really surprised us,” Morales said in an interview with Huddle. “But we are happy because at least we know our restaurant is successful.”
At one point, during the early hype, the lineups for food were so long staff offered free biscuits to those willing to leave. On social media, people reported that some angry customers threw the biscuits back at staff.
“I heard some different feedback about [the long wait times]. Some of it is good but some is also bad. I heard they were throwing biscuits at our people but I do not know if that’s true,” said Morales.
“We feel [for the customers]; we know that they are queuing up for four or five hours just to have a piece of our chicken. But we cannot please everybody, we need to take care of our staff as well.”
OPINION: The Popeyes Lineups Are About Way More Than Chicken
Even though the lineups are more manageable now compared to opening day, there is still hype over the restaurant and lineups can be long. Morales is asking customers to be patient as newly trained staff collect their bearings after a hectic fortnight.
“We are trying our best to serve everyone and we apologize if we are not keeping up with the volume right now,” said Morales.
“I just hope the customers will understand that we are only human beings; we also need to rest.”
To give overworked and tired staff more time to rest, Popeyes recently cut back its hours. Rather than closing at 10 p.m., it now closes at 8 p.m.
“Many of our staff get burned out,” said Morales. “They need to recover from the days straight that they worked and the long hours.”
“For now, we need to care for our people, of our staff, and make sure everyone has a good rest and they are fresh and ready to serve the customer.”
Popeyes is looking to hire more people so it can get back to regular hours. Amazingly, Morales says he so far hasn’t had to close early because the restaurant ran out of chicken.
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].